Embalmed Madness

Prostitute Disfigurement belong in the same niche of extreme metal as bands like Disgorge, Disgraseed, Gorerotted, Gorgasm, Lividity and Pyaemia.

With their debut full‑length they deliver a slab of unrelenting brutal death metal. As so often the lyrical content is chiefly gore‑themed, and... so over‑the‑top it can become quite ludicrous at times. But what else would one expect from a band with such a band name? Another topic cultivated with gruesome gusto is the phenomenon of sexual deviancy, which is best exemplified by the songtitle "On Her Guts I Cum". Charming.

The gurgling gutturals are being belched out in a continuous, indecipherable frenzy, occasionally interchanged with screams. Once in a while the odd horror/porn movie sample is thrown in‑between to spice things up a bit. So... really there is nothing new here. Still, their brand of debauchery is entertaining enough, certainly if you enjoy the distasteful corpse‑fuck on the cover.

Without exception the songs are executed at high velocity and with flawless accuracy. But they are also very short - all beneath the three‑minute mark. As a consequence there is not much time to elaborate on the musical material. Perhaps that's why this album can come across as being a tad too formulaic.

More in particular, the bulk of the tracks feature fast‑paced drum programming, which transforms the whole thing in an undifferentiated maelstrom. That is not to say that the production values aren't high, because one can hear what's going on clearly: thankfully the production prevents the respective instruments from drowsing off into chaotic muddle.

Granted: this album bears witness to a decent amount of craftsmanship, and - considering this as a debut - it doesn't fail in what it sets out to achieve, especially if you're into goredeath. It already epitomizes the trademark ingredients - i.e. savage bass lines and bestial riffwork - that pave the way for later releases.

On the downside - as I mentioned earlier - the effort in hand seriously lacks innovation, and becomes formulaic and boring just after a short while, as there is practically no variation. There are no stand‑out songs; the material is mutually interchangeable.

Fast and brutal? Definitely.
But also non‑essential.

The Netherlands have always had an excellent brutal death metal scene. Prostitute Desfigurement is the proof of the previous statement. Embalmed Madness is their debut album. In it these guys created some of the most brutal and fast death metal ever. The drummer keeps impressing me everytime I play the record, so do the guitar players. And the vocalist is a plus for his really low grunts and extreme style. There are some songs like Choking on Defecation, Rotting away..., and Dissector that are real lessons about musical structure. Some others (the less) might become a little bit boring, since they do not follow the composition principles upon which the other ones are based. I hope these guys fix that problem on their next album, because it is the only thing we could recriminate to them.